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A Land Before Time
Talamh gan teorann
As words are locked into the homogenous printed page, so too our
universe has been perceived as uniform empty space peopled
by discrete and unchanging units of matter. This notion of the
durability of matter is similar to an idea of a permanence engendered
by the keeping of written records – that future events may thus be
determined and controlled as knowledge is our mistake to make. The
future is ours to behold. Let us open our eyes refreshed in wonder and
awe at the beauty of creation.
For the people of the west of Ireland time did not exist as it does for us
today. The sun sets here in the West. You took one long gasp of life at
close of every living day – longer light for saving hay.
And when the tracks for trains were laid that was the beginning of
synchronisation – and time began to be something to be “kept”. Like
sand falling through our fingers, the grains of our lives can seem small
within the vast ocean of life that surrounds us and that ever receding
horizon.”
Speak not of time here, but rather seek to linger awhile. There is no
hurry, no rush; everything has it’s moment, it’s season and there can
be a flow – from fullness to emptiness and back once again.
Heraclitus was the Greek philosopher, known for his doctrine of
change being central to the universe, and for establishing the term
Logos in Western philosophy as meaning both the source and
fundamental order of the Cosmos . Living prior to the advent of
Christianity, the writings of Heraclitus, as integral to ancient Greek
literature, survived through the efforts of Irish scribes. Heracitus’ idea
of the Logos would have been part of the fundamental learning of
early Irish monks and appears in much later writings of Christianity
as being associated with Christ.
“You cannot step twice into the same river; for other waters are
continually flowing in.
You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever
flowing on to you.
You cannot step twice into the same stream. For as you are stepping
in, other waters are ever flowing on to you.
You cannot step twice into the same river.
You cannot step into the same river twice.
It is impossible to step into the same river twice.
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river
and he’s not the same man.”
Heraclitus as quoted by Plato in Cratylus, 401d.
History is a child building a sand-castle by the sea, and that child is
the whole majesty of man’s power in the world. Heraclitus
274
Talamh gan teorann
As words are locked into the homogenous printed page, so too our
universe has been perceived as uniform empty space peopled
by discrete and unchanging units of matter. This notion of the
durability of matter is similar to an idea of a permanence engendered
by the keeping of written records – that future events may thus be
determined and controlled as knowledge is our mistake to make. The
future is ours to behold. Let us open our eyes refreshed in wonder and
awe at the beauty of creation.
For the people of the west of Ireland time did not exist as it does for us
today. The sun sets here in the West. You took one long gasp of life at
close of every living day – longer light for saving hay.
And when the tracks for trains were laid that was the beginning of
synchronisation – and time began to be something to be “kept”. Like
sand falling through our fingers, the grains of our lives can seem small
within the vast ocean of life that surrounds us and that ever receding
horizon.”
Speak not of time here, but rather seek to linger awhile. There is no
hurry, no rush; everything has it’s moment, it’s season and there can
be a flow – from fullness to emptiness and back once again.
Heraclitus was the Greek philosopher, known for his doctrine of
change being central to the universe, and for establishing the term
Logos in Western philosophy as meaning both the source and
fundamental order of the Cosmos . Living prior to the advent of
Christianity, the writings of Heraclitus, as integral to ancient Greek
literature, survived through the efforts of Irish scribes. Heracitus’ idea
of the Logos would have been part of the fundamental learning of
early Irish monks and appears in much later writings of Christianity
as being associated with Christ.
“You cannot step twice into the same river; for other waters are
continually flowing in.
You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever
flowing on to you.
You cannot step twice into the same stream. For as you are stepping
in, other waters are ever flowing on to you.
You cannot step twice into the same river.
You cannot step into the same river twice.
It is impossible to step into the same river twice.
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river
and he’s not the same man.”
Heraclitus as quoted by Plato in Cratylus, 401d.
History is a child building a sand-castle by the sea, and that child is
the whole majesty of man’s power in the world. Heraclitus
274
